Tag: time

Peanut on the front porch of our house, 1970Mom coming out of the house, 1969Uncle John and Peanut in the living room, 1968Me on the swingset and Peanut in the grass, 1973Dad and I in the backyard, 1972Summer with lawn chairs, 1971Roses by the house, 1971Dad and I watering the grass, 1972Mom’s crab tree, 1984Christmas in the living room, 1968Dad with me and Beth by the roses, 1978Me with Beth on the swingset, 1974Mom with Beth outside – 1973Mom and I when I came home from the hospital – 1970Grandma on Dad’s chair, 1970The family in front of the house for Beth’s first communion – 1982

Last night, my sister went up to Kenosha for the closing on our family home, where our family has lived since 1966. It’s the only home Beth and I knew from our growing up years until today.

Last year, after we moved my mom into her new home, we spent months cleaning (and cleaning) the house, getting the things we wanted out of it, and planning and executing an estate sale with the incredible help of The Balderdash Collection. In November we put the house on the market, and yesterday it was sold. Pretty incredible when you consider the market today.

A few weeks ago, I stopped in at the house and took one last walk around. Although it was completely empty, I still could see everything the way it was, and I could remember things that happened in every nook and cranny. Where I’d listen to my music. Where my mom would sit and look at the crab tree in the front yard. Where we sat at the dinner table. Where we’d sit and watch TV as a family after dinner. Where my sister and I played together and made up silly games. Where fights happened. Where good and bad news was learned. Where my Dad died. They all happened there.

It’s hard to say goodbye to a place as special as this… but it’s time. We have a lot of wonderful memories there, and we’ll never forget those. But now it’s time for new memories. In new places. And now, someone else can make memories in our old home. I hope it has as many good things in store for them as it had for us.

In the past few days, I’ve had a couple of missed connections return into my life after many years.

The first was a guy I talked about in a post on this blog, and in my brief life as a podcaster. We met at a bar and hit it off great. We were going to get together for a date, but one roadblock came up after another, and we never did go out. We did remain friends though, and he ended up in a relationship.

A couple of days ago, I found that old podcast file and listened to it again. First, I thought how glad I was that I didn’t continue as a podcaster— It really wasn’t my forte. But second, I got to wondering about this guy and what was up with him.

The next day… the VERY next day… he signed up for an audition with the chorus.

Now is the universe telling me something? I don’t know. But I’m interested to see what happens here.

The second missed connection was a guy I met on gay.com many years ago. He lived in Chicago and then moved to Hawaii for a while. I found him recently on a, ahem, gay-related site, and we chatted and texted back and forth for most of the day. We might be getting together soon.

What’s with all these years-apart missed connections coming back into my life? I’m intrigued by this latest universal intervention. We shall see how it all plays out.

Times aren’t tough but boy are they ever busy. Just wanted to chime in and say that everything’s alright and I’m alive and well. Hopefully when I get a moment to breathe again I’ll write. And then after that I’ll clean my apartment. Catch up on my Scrabulous games. Meet a friend for lunch or dinner. Go out and be among the living.

One bright spot through all of this– it’s finally feeling like spring around here!!!